News - Friday, December 16, 2022

In 1983, Chattanooga trusts and estates lawyer Alan Cates found himself in Huntsville, Alabama, dancing with an Internal Revenue Service appeals officer.

Cates’ client – a well-heeled gentleman for whom he’d done extensive planning – had died and left behind an estate large enough to trigger a thorough IRS audit. When the auditing agent came across a pair of complex charitable deductions Cates had recommended, she declared his client had surely been “too old, too sick and too undereducated” to have understood them and refused to allow them.

Growing up, Will Hitchcock often found himself at odds with his brothers, who were close to his age. Like all siblings, they had to figure a way to live together peacefully instead of existing in constant conflict.

A Cookeville native, Hitchcock found himself in a similar situation when he boarded at Baylor School in Chattanooga during high school.

The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments will consider five candidates when it meets to select nominees for the Tennessee Supreme Court vacancy created by the retirement of the Honorable Sharon G. Lee, effective Aug. 31.

The applicants include Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Tom Greenholtz.

With affordability on homebuyers’ minds – as interest rates continue to climb and outsized price tags have become the pandemic-born norm – Realtor.com offers hope for consumers with its 2023 Top Housing Markets forecast.

Markets on the list are not only poised to see the strongest combined growth in home sales and listing prices in the coming year but up to this point have seen a smaller affordability crunch than other markets across the U.S., the report states.

December tends to be when most of us are scrambling to ensure everything is in place for the coming holidays. But taking extra time to ensure you – and your home – are prepared can go a long way.

In a recent National Association of Realtors article on Houselogic.com, Stacey Freed provided a great checklist to help make sure you’re prepared for (almost) everything this holiday season might bring, along with some tips on saving money for next year.

With Christmas quickly approaching, many families in the Chattanooga area are already preparing for holiday travel. As you pack your suitcases and coordinate care for pets, don’t forget to survey your home security.

Robberies increase by an average of 20% each December across America, with the average value of stolen items being $2,891.

Timing is everything when you’re a comedian. If your timing is off when you tell a joke, you won’t get the hoped-for reaction.

Timing also is everything when visiting Honey Seed, a new casual dining restaurant located on the southern tail of Market Street. Arrive at the wrong time and you might not get your pick from the menu, which consists of hand-rolled Montreal-style bagels, wood-fired pizza and other assorted eats.

Leadership Tennessee’s spring 2023 cohort will consist of 29 rising professionals who represent the diversity of the regions and industries of the state. The roaster includes six members from Hamilton County:

• Quentin Lawrence, director, workforce strategy, city of Chattanooga

Residents at Life Care Center of Red Bank enjoyed performances of “Frosty the Snowman,” “Silent Night,” “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and other holiday classics Dec. 6 as Realtors, mortgage professionals and other carolers spread holiday cheer at the skilled nursing care facility.

Philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott has given the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga a “transformational gift” of $2.4 million. It’s the largest single contribution in the affiliate’s history.

“For decades our leadership, board, staff and volunteers have worked with limited resources to help make a positive impact on thousands of residents representing communities of color and disadvantaged persons,” says ULGC Board chair Allen Clare. “This gift will give us the leverage we need to sustain our critical work longer term.”

Chattanooga Gas’ 2022 Energy to Give campaign donated more than $35,000 to community partner organizations to provide bill payment assistance to income-eligible natural gas customers.

The recipients included United Way of Greater Chattanooga, United Way of the Ocoee Region and The Caring Place. Learn more about assisting those in need at www.chattanoogagas.com/energyassistance.

Erlanger Health System recently presented Chattanooga State Community College nursing instructor Heather Akers with the Erlanger Nursing Chair of Excellence for Adults and nursing instructor Lindsey O’Hagan with the Erlanger Nursing Chair of Excellence for Children award.

Carl Bernstein, one of the reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal leading to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974, spoke to more than 1,500 students, employees, alumni and community members during a recent visit.

Bernstein’s visit to the university inaugurated the School of Journalism and Communication’s R. Lynn Sauls Endowed Lecture Series, which invite prominent journalists and communication professionals to campus.

The city of Chattanooga has reduced its energy use by 36% across 2 million square feet of municipal building space compared to 2013 levels, resulting in an annual savings of nearly $2 million in operational costs.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy visited the Moccasin Bend Environmental Campus last week to recognize the city for its energy efficiency leadership as part of the Better Buildings Initiative, which challenges organizations and governments to reduce energy use by at least 20% over 10 years.

As the year winds down, your thoughts might drift to the future. And, as part of that future, you might be thinking of where your financial assets will end up.

You’ve worked hard to accumulate them, and you’ll certainly need some of them to support your retirement, but what about the rest? What’s the best way to pass them on to your loved ones?

It has been quite the year. In 2022, we’ve lived through high inflation, stock market lows, housing market frenzies and ongoing Federal Reserve rate hikes. Although we don’t have a crystal ball to predict what will happen to the economy next year, we could use this year’s events as a guide: Things may continue to be rocky.

The news came as a shock, yet also with a sense of relief.

The University of Tennessee women’s basketball team announced last week that Tamari Key, a four-year starter, will miss the remainder of the season after doctors discovered blood clots in her lungs.

Are we witnessing the closing of the current Tennessee Titans’ window of opportunity?

It certainly feels that way given the tumultuous week of two embarrassing losses in eight days sandwiched around general manager Jon Robinson’s abrupt dismissal by owner Amy Adams Strunk.

Defense was supposed to carry this Tennessee Titans football team through the rough spots this season. And for a while, it did just that. Their effort in an overtime loss at Kansas City was one of their more remarkable efforts.

But as the injuries kept mounting, the defense eventually broke under the strain. The Titans have been able to withstand the loss of Harold Landry, intermittent losses of Bud Dupree and even Jeffery Simmons playing only on one healthy ankle.

The Titans find themselves reeling, dealing with only the second three-game losing streak of Mike Vrabel’s tenure as they head west to face the Chargers.

The Titans must somehow turn back the clock and ratchet up a strong all-around effort if they want to have a chance to win and preserve their playoff hopes.

The Lexus RX 350 has consistently been one of the bestselling midsize SUVs and a leading model for the Lexus brand. So the release of the new RX created much excitement with SUV shoppers.

The redesigned 2023 RX 350 gets a new engine, improved technology and a more luxurious interior. But is it enough to elevate it to the top of the class? The experts at Edmunds compared it to their No. 1 pick in the midsize luxury SUV category, the Mercedes-Benz GLE 350, to find out.

When riding a horse, it’s important to keep your head up and focused on where you want to go. Look down, and you may not make it to your intended destination. The same is true when looking for a job.

The modern job search comes with quite a few bumps in the road. It has happened to the best of us.